Reviews | Brock Clawson Choreography

Giordano gives powerhouse premiere of local choreographer's new piece

March 16, 2009

Giordano gives powerhouse premiere of
local choreographer's new piece

By Hedy Weiss - Dance Critic

No need to go shopping far and wide for choreographic talent. Sometimes it's right under your nose.

That is what dance companies in Chicago have been discovering in recent years as they increasingly foster and showcase the work of local dancers who have turned their energies to dancemaking. The latest case in point is Brock Clawson, who has worked extensively with Thodos Dance Chicago and now has created a real whopper of a new work for Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago.

Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago

By Laura Molzahn

Just a year after the death of founder Gus Giordano, the 46-year-old company releases a torrent of mostly upbeat energy. Brock Clawson's new piece about relationships, Give and Take, is hardly all sweetness and light, but its five couples bring vigor and feeling to Clawson's whiplash emotional turns. All that churning is laid over the bones of a solid, satisfying structure: Clawson, a relative newcomer to choreography, seems to have an exceptional grasp of repetition, variation, canon movement--and the element of surprise.

Thodos' eclectic expressions

March 3, 2008

Thodos' eclectic expressions

Reinking 'ode' an enhancement

By Lucia Mauro
SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE

A thin veil of melancholy was figuratively draped over Thodos Dance Chicago's weekend concert at the Athenaeum Theatre, though that's not to say the program was maudlin or overly meditative. Appropriately titled "Inspiring Expressions," the evening took on a vaguely introspective and eclectic aura, with some dances speaking more potently than others.

Thodos Dance Chicago In New Dances 2005

June 27, 2005

Thodos Dance Chicago In New Dances 2005

At The Ruth Page Center For The Arts Theater

By Hedy Weiss - Dance Critic

"We are a company of dance performers and creators, and we can only grow if we work in all areas of dance," said Melissa Thodos. She was introducing New Dances 2005, the program of eight new works performed this weekend at the Ruth Center for the Arts. All but one of the pieces was choreographed by dancers in her company, Thodos Dance Chicago.